Media measurement and analytics firm Rentrak Corporation has partnered with research and analytics company Experian Simmons to offer national and local consumer purchase data through the integration of their viewership measurement services.
“The impact is pretty wide-reaching, because we are taking television viewing information from millions of TV set top boxes,” said Bill Livek, CEO of Rentrak Corporation. “Our hypothesis is that we can help direct marketers who are using their own techniques to sell products, to also use television at the same time. So they can toggle back and forth from their direct marketing into television marketing.”
Livek said marketers could use data from a combination of satellite, telecommunications and cable TV sources from the companies’ databases.
“So a marketer can look at TV programs, whether they’re on CBS, ABC, ESPN, Bloomberg TV or Zee TV, and look at how their target audience matches the television viewer,” said Livek.
He added that Rentrak and Experian Simmons are working with a number of direct marketers, but declined to name any, citing nondisclosure agreements.
Livek said the partnership would also help marketers integrate their direct marketing infrastructures with those of other departments. “This allows the CEOs of every brand owner to start thinking about combining those disciplines — of direct marketing, broadcast, cable and satellite,” he said.
The integration will provide “performance-driven marketers with the insights about consumer behavior and attitudes that they need to effectively target and engage their core brand users and prospects,” said Ken Wollenberg, general manager of Experian Simmons in a statement. An Experian Simmons representative could not be immediately reached for comment.
The partnership is Experian Simmons’ second in recent months. Experian Simmons and Affinity combined information from their respective National Consumer and American Magazine studies into a combined database for media buyers and marketers in May.
